Report from Mihaly Csermak (my report on seeing the contest on tape, below):

The Hungarian song was chosen on 28th February. The winning song was selected between 19 other songs by five juries. The juries deliberated in five different cities in the Regional Studios of MTV (Regional Studio Debrecen, Regional Studio Szeged, Regional Studio Pecs, Regional Studio Szombathely and Regional Studio Budapest)
The winner was a four-member boy group which the average age is 19. Their name is V.I.P. (seen here)
The title of their song is "Miert kell, hogy elmenj?" - ("Why you need to go?").
The group was established in January of this year. This was the first time they have ever performed in public, and Dublin will be their International debut.

Thankyou very much, Mihaly, I never expected to get any news from Hungary!

And now, your editor of these pages, Geoff Harrison, reviews the Hungarian contest, as seen on video:

Nineteen songs competed in what looked like a recorded show, set in a sort of theatre-cum-disco, with flashing lights, and plenty of fog.
Even the applause was canned, and I got used to the same whistles of delight after each song.
Hungary seems to be an unusual place, in that last names seem to be put first, so I have stuck with the way the Hungarian TV (MTV) chose to show them. So I am sure Krassy Renáta is really Renáta Krassy!.

The songs were presented quick-fire in groups of three;

1. Jolly - Rockfort
   Rockfort are a 6-piece band. This was a vaguely folksy slow song with two female lead singers. The chorus, 'Jolly', sounded awfully like Dolly Parton's 'Jolene'.

2. Nem bújiatsz el - Rozsi Marianna
   Solo blond female singer, this would sound more at home in the Swedish dans band scene.

3. Eltévedt üzenet - Almási Adrienne
   Dark-haired girl backed by a lady saxophonist. Hard to describe - almost tuneless with a jazzy saxophone mid-section.

4. Valami eltünt - Szerda Délután
   Two guys on stage, one with a keyboard, and lead singer with an electric guitar. Effective soft rock.

5. Talán - Melinda és Lui
   Male/female duet. Both sat on bar stools facing each other. Our cameran favoured her, a honey blond. Pleasant medium-paced song, if rather unoriginal. They hold hands at the end. Probably my favourite. Of course, it got no points!

6. Választok egy csillagot - Orsi
   Young dark-haired girl in a green top and black trousers backed by 2 singers in a rocky medium-paced ballad. Quirky singing style.

7. Miert kell hogy elmenj - VIP
   4-boy band, but not very animated - all on stools in alternate black/white. Fairly standard boy-band beat to this ballad, and each of VIP took a few lines. The end by standing and bowing down as the song fades, which looks silly. Uninspiring.

8. Nebántsd a feketrigot - Ferencz Orsolya
   Dark-haired woman in a short red dress. Stiff style in a song that sounded more like an anthem, but not bad.

9. Egy pillanat volt - CET
   Spiky blond-haired female lead in a faster rocky song, backed by electric guitar and a sax. Bit of a jazz mid-section. Not really at home in Eurovision, but still quite good.

10. Szavak nelkül - Popper Péter
    Long-haired male lead, with female backing singers. Slow ballad devoid of much melody; forgettable.

11. Tavasz a télben - Nádasi Veronika
    Cello and clarinet on stage with dark-haired female singer in sad ballad. Fairly effective.

12. Nem lehet azutolsó az elso szerelem = Auth Csilla
    Another sad slowish ballad from a dark-haired girl. Nice violin arrangement, building to the end. Good, but it cleared the audience - a long shot shows almost nobody there!

13. Ugye szólsz - Dina
    Girl in slinky black dress with two male dancers/trumpet players. Lots of nonsense words - a bit like a caberet act. Lively, and we needed that!

14. Ugy szeress mint én - Cotton club singers
    Two girls, two men in close harmony style, almost like Manhattan Transfer. Professional-sounding, but not an outstanding song.

15. Mitöl olvad a sízed fel - Majsai Gábor
    Mostly an ugly bunch here - an overweight saxophonist, and a part-shaved singer who tries, with some success, to look and sound like Tom Jones. Vaguely reggae-style backing track. Song went nowhere, but the audience clapped along.

16. A hatordik sorban - Harvest
    A three-piece band, I guess. There was a keyboardist, a lead with an electric guitar, and a drum set, but no drummer!. We could hear him, though! Pleasant enough chug-along.

17. Csak te legyél - Yellow rebel
    Bass, ukelele, accordion, and acoustic guitar. The bassist, loking like an escaped Gibb brother, tried to sing. Sounded vaguely Irish, or maybe like Peter, Paul, and Mary, but without Mary.

18. Úira itt volnál - Takáts Tamás
    Guy needing a hairstylist badly, backed by acoustic guitar. Rather hoarse loud singing. Slowish, very dull.

19. Dal neked - Krassy Renáta
    Pretty blond with a cheerful slowish ballad.

Then after a replay of 'The Voice' we were into the voting. Just five regional juries, scoring with 10, 7, 5, 3, 1 points only:

SONG/TOWN	Debrecen	Szeged	Pecs	Szombathely	Budapest	Total/ place
Jolly	10			1	3	14(3rd)
Nem bújiatsz el						0
Eltévedt üzenet						0
Valami eltünt						0
Talán						0
Választok egy csillagot					10	10
Miert kell hogy elmenj	3		10	7	7	27 (1st)
Nebántsd a feketrigot						0
Egy pillanat volt		7			5	12 (5th)
Szavak nelkül	5					5
Tavasz a télben	1	10		10		21 (2nd)
Nem lehet azutolsó az elso szerelem		3				3
Ugye szólsz			5			5
Ugy szeress mint én		5		3		8
Mitöl olvad a sízed fel			3			3
A hatordik sorban						0
Csak te legyél			1			1
Úira itt volnál		1	7			8
Dal neked	7			5	1	13 (4th)

Phew, that was hard!

After winning, VIP reprised the song, or was it just a replay?
Anyway, an interesting contest, with some fine songs, but I fear VIP will not do very well for Hungary, it is too forgettable, unlike their brilliant debut song in 1994, sung by Friderika Bayer.

Good luck to the boys, anyway!

Internal links:

• Return to ESC 1997 Newspage
• Return to Eurovision homepage